Note E214 — 39.

If the virtues of Penny Royal, as stated in Lyte's Dodoens, p. 232, be true, the use of it might now be advantageously adopted by the consumers of London drinking water. He says: "If at any time men be constrayned to drinke corrupt, naughtie, stinking, or salte water, throw Penny royal into it, or strow the pouder thereof into it, and it shall not hurte any bodie." It is sometimes called Pudding-grass, from its being used to make stuffings for meat, formerly called puddings. It is recommended by Andrew Boorde (Dyetary, ed. E.E.T. Soc. p. 281) as a remedy for melancholy, and to comfort the spirits of men.